Assessing the Potential Role of Human Colonic Bacteroides Species in the Catabolism of Two Dietary Polymers in Vivo

Bacteroides, a genus of Gram negative obligately anaerobic bacteria, are among the most numerous organisms in the human colon. This genus contains the most versatile degraders of polysaccharides among the colonic microflora. Polysaccharides derived from the diet along with mucopolysaccharides and mucins are probably the major carbon and energy sources for these saccharolytic bacteria. However, it has been difficult to test this hypothesis because the complexity of the colonic ecosystem has precluded efforts to follow polysaccharide utilization by a particular species in the colon. Thus, the goal of my project was to try and develop a new methodology by which the in vivo catabolic activities of a colonic bacterial species could be followed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Microbiology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• McCarthy, Robert Eugene

• Biology, Microbiology

Identifier

(UMI)AAI8815387

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/71191